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Class 2A Quarterfinals

Camanche 58, Cascade 48

Twice during the regular season, the Camanche and Cascade boys’ basketball teams played one another. In December, the Cougars drove the 71 minutes to Camanche. In late January, the Indians drove the same distance to Cascade, which won both matchups.

Both teams ended up qualifying this week’s state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena, and as fate would have it, the two schools drove two and a half hours only to play each other again. This time, Camanche finally secured a victory over its conference rival.

Camanche beat Cascade, 58-48, in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A state basketball tournament Monday. The Indians advance to Thursday’s semifinals, where they’ll play top-seeded Western Christian at 2 p.m.

“We felt we could be the better team against Cascade,” Camanche coach Josh Davis said. “We thought there were some areas we could beat them at. We didn’t do that the first two times around, but we got the one that counted.”

It took a quarter before the game experienced any sort of separation. Camanche (23-2) pieced together a 13-4 run to go up 22-14 midway through the second after four lead changes. Cascade battled back before the half but still trailed 26-20 at the intermission.

Multiple times in the second half, the Cougars nearly closed the gap completely, but Camanche responded every time. The closest Cascade got to overtaking the Indians came when Johnny Supple hit a triple to tie the game at 43. Camanche proceeded to rip off a 10-0 run to ice the game.

Three Camanche players finished in double figures, led by Cameron Soenksen, who scored 17 and grabbed 11 rebounds and recorded four steals before fouling out in the fourth. Dev Patel and Dylan Hundley each added 13.

Johnny Supple led Cascade with 22 points on 9 of 19 shooting. No other player had more than two field goals for the game. The Cougars finished the season 22-3.

Western Christian (Hull) 53, South Hamilton 47

With two minutes to play in Monday’s Class 2A quarterfinal game, Tyson Kooima dished a pass to Jacob Vis. Vis, Western Christian’s 6-foot-6 sophomore, took the ball and jumped to flush home the first dunk of the 2017 boys’ state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.

Vis’ dunk was the exclamation point on Western Christian’s 53-47 comeback victory over South Hamilton. The Wolfpack (22-2) advance to Thursday’s semifinals, which puts them two wins away from their second-straight 2A state title.

“Really proud of the guys for sticking with it,” Western Christian coach Bill Harmsen said. “It was really good to see us come out in those third and fourth quarters and play our game.

“We were down in our substate game, and we’ve been down this year before. But our guys are really resilient, and they’re really tough kids. Really proud of the way they stuck with it.”

Before Vis’ dunk, South Hamilton looked poised to secure the tournament’s first upset. The Hawks used a 23-6 run to lead 29-13 midway through the second half. But the Wolfpack proceeded to rip off a 14-0 run between the second and third quarters to close the gap.

Western Christian retook the lead on a Jesse Jansma 3-pointer to go up 40-38. Soon after, Vis dunked to virtually ice the game. Jansma led all scorers with 25 points. Tyson Kooima added another 12 while Vis scored 4 points, recorded two blocks and grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Hawks were led by Marco Balderas, who scored 13 points and recorded four steals. Collin Hill contributed nine points and 12 rebounds. It was the first time all season — and just the third of his career — that Hill was held under 10 points in a game. South Hamilton finished the season 22-3.

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St. Mary’s (Remsen)'s first trip to the state tournament will end with a top-four finish.

The Hawks improved to 25-0 with a 59-52 win over New London in the Class 1A quarterfinal round on Monday at Wells Fargo Arena. They advance to Thursday’s semifinal round, where they'll play Grand View Christian at 12:15 p.m.

“It’s huge. It’s very huge,” St. Mary’s coach Scott Ruden said. “I remember being at a youth tournament in fifth grade, when this team played together there. We talked about how we were good enough to get to state — way back then, we talked about it. It’s been a dream.

“The support of the community has been unreal. You could probably rob any bank or store in Remsen that you wanted to today. They’re all down here.”

St. Mary’s jumped out to a 22-16 lead after the first quarter by shooting 8-for-10 from the field — which included a 4-for-4 showing from the deep. New London cut the deficit to three by the intermission — and to just two points multiple times in the second half — but was never able to take the lead.

Nicholas Ruden led all scorers with 26 points on 9 of 18 shooting for the Hawks. Jacob Wesselmann followed with 19 on 5 of 11 shooting — and all of his buckets came from beyond the arc. Mason Porter and Ben Dentlinger scored 19 and 15, respectively, for New London, which finished the season 21-4.

Jake Hilmer of North Linn drives to the basket during Monday's Class 1A quarterfinal against Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto in Des Moines. Hilmer has helped the Lynx to an unbeaten season entering Thursday's semifinals. Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register

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A strong fourth quarter lifted top-seeded North Linn over Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto in the second quarterfinal game of 1A state performances Monday.

The game had six ties and 10 lead changes before the Lynx uncorked a 17-5 run in the fourth quarter for a 49-38 lead with a minute left in the contest. MVAO tried to close in late, but the deficit proved too much.

Jake Hilmer led North Linn (26-0) with 18 points, seven assists and five steals. As a team, the Lynx recorded 12 steals and forced 19 total turnovers, which led to 15 points. Ryan Miller added 12 points behind Hilmer.

Three MVAO players finished in double figures. Both Colby Suentjens and Juan Delegarza scored 11, while Connor Beech added 10. The Rams finished their season at 18-8 overall.

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Gladbrook-Reinbeck opened the 2017 state tournament with a 53-50 victory over Lynnville-Sully.

The Rebels (25-2) jumped out to a 24-22 lead at the half thanks to 17 points from Joe Smoldt. The senior ended up with a game-high 29 on 11 of 25 shooting, helping Gladbrook-Reinbeck hold off the Hawks late in the game.

“Getting into a rhythm is something that’s really important to be successful and get it going later in the game,” Smoldt said. “This year, we’ve had a couple of slow starts — and that’s been one our problems — but today, we got out to a good start. That was big for us.”

CLOSE

The Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior scored 29 points in a 53-50 win over Lynnville-Sully in the Class 1A state quarterfinals.

With just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Tanner Foster hit a three to give Lynnville-Sully a 38-37 lead — its first of the game. Caden Kickbush responded immediately with a 3-pointer, giving the Rebels a lead they would not relinquish.